Stormy Weather
by Kurohane Ookami
Summary: Erik Velke is a former Russian translator. Now, he's getting lost in the woods, discovering Autobots, and trying not to get electrocuted. Oh, and let's not forget NEST suddenly taking an interest in him. M for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, I'm now addicted to Transformers, so I'm being spontaneous and writing a fic for it.**

**Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any way, shape, or form.**

o-o-o-o

_Prologue_

Erik was lost. Hopelessly so.

What had started out as a hike on a trail had somehow turned into a bushwhacking excursion. Luckily, he'd remembered to pack all sorts of things in his backpack before heading out, so he wasn't all that concerned. It was mostly irritation he was feeling at the moment, as he had somehow managed to lose the trail.

This had to be a new record.

"One day, I need to get myself a compass." He grumbled as he came to a small dip, about thirty feet deep and double the length wide, the only available means of crossing an ancient spruce that wasn't actually all that reassuring. Sighing, he leapt onto the giant expanse of roots and began climbing up to the trunk, coughing and blinking the dirt out of his face. Dirt was not a pleasant thing to be consuming. It was way too gritty, and one never knew where it had been or what had been on it.

About halfway across, one of his feet slipped for a moment as rotted wood crumbled beneath his weight. Snarling a profanity, he held on tightly and slowly moved the slipping foot cautiously back onto solid wood. After that, he was pretty much ready to get the 'hike' over with and get the hell out of the forest permanently.

"Stupid tree." He muttered after jumping off the other side. "I'm finding a different way back. You tried to kill me."

Grumbling under his breath, he hitched the straps of his bag higher and continued, gnawing on an energy bar of some sort that he was pretty sure had gone stale. But, he was hungry and getting a little cranky, so he didn't really question the due date on it.

-;-

It was a couple of hours later that he finally reached the peak of the mountain. Gratefully, he allowed himself to collapse against the ground, breathing deeply. His legs felt like they were about to fall off, and the cool air and higher altitude had him feeling like he was about to hack up a lung. But, the view was great, he had finally found the trail, and he couldn't really ask for much more at the moment.

Rummaging through his bag, he pulled out one of the several bottles of water and pulled one out, twisting the cap off easily and nearly inhaling it. After a couple of moments, he pulled away, sighing as the cool water soothed his throat.

He leaned back against the rock, fully intent on having a moment to rest, when the ground below him suddenly gave way from beneath him.

With a yell, he plunged into the damp, cold earth.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well, sorry about the delay in update. I've been busy.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any way, shape, or form.**

o-o-o-o

_Chapter One_

Erik groaned, shifting amid the loose dirt and sharp rocks. His ears rung, and he couldn't see much through the dim light that was filtering through a narrow crack in the ceiling of what appeared to be a cave.

"Sookin syn." He swore, leaning his head back. "That hurt."

Shifting again, he winced as his left leg erupted into pain. Okay, that obviously wasn't a good idea.

Sighing, he leaned back, noting that his left shoulder was also throbbing. A couple of his fingers were also sore, after a quick examination.

This brought him to his next predicament.

"How the _hell_ am I going to get out of here?" he wondered quietly, voice echoing slightly around the cave. "Better yet, where _is_ here?"

* * *

He didn't know how long he'd been laying there in the damp, cold cavern, but he knew that he wasn't about to sit around and wait to be rescued.

"Lord help me." He grunted before heaving himself up.

Almost immediately, fireworks exploded behind his eyelids, his ears rung like he was in a gigantic gong that had just been hit, and his shoulder screeched at him to _stop moving_.

Vaguely, he felt around until he encountered the wall. At least, he thought it was a wall, until it made a metallic clang.

"What the…"

Feeling farther along, he encountered something softer that was definitely not a rock.

"What the fuck?" he growled, squinting and looking up. As his eyes focused, he couldn't help but gape in shock.

That was in no way, shape, or form a rock. Of that he was absolutely positive. Rocks weren't made of metal and about two stories high. Nor were they robots.

Erik spent a good several minutes just staring, slack jawed, at the creature before him. He was finding it hard to believe that this thing wasn't alive, as there was a dull glow from inside the chest. At least, he thought it was a chest.

"Hello?" he tapped on a leg. "Anyone home?"

Nothing.

He didn't know whether to take that as a good sign or a bad one.

But he was wondering what the hell a giant robot was doing hidden away in a cave that didn't appear to have a way out? How had it even gotten here?

Huffing, he rested against a leg, his wounds twinging and the familiar yet unpleasant stench of copper filling the air.

"Great. I'm bleeding out in a fucking cave in a mountain in God knows where." He drawled sarcastically. "Isn't this the perfect way to go?"

* * *

He wasn't entirely certain when he'd dozed off, but waking up was suddenly much harder to do than before.

"That…is a shiny object." He mumbled, seeing the blue glow still emitting from the robot's chest. "I want to poke it."

Dragging himself to his feet, Erik was suddenly glad that he'd remembered to wear the hiking boots with the spikes.

And for some reason, climbing the robot seemed like a really good idea. After all, he wanted to poke the shiny object that was lying in its chest.

Good thing he rock climbed for a couple years.

He slowly began clambering up the robot's leg, easily finding handholds among machinery and wires. In the back of his mind, he wondered why something this weird would have something so common sticking out of its legs. Unless of course the Japanese had made it to spy on the Americans. It wouldn't surprise him in the least.

Stupid smart people.

After what seemed to be years for him, he finally managed to get to the glow.

Only to find that it was tucked away behind several layers of metal bits that would most likely take a welder to remove.

Frowning, he pulled at the plates, grinning when he realized that they actually moved quite easily when pressure was used.

Once that task had been completed, he found that there was a significant amount of room around the glowy thing. Enough room for one full grown male who was bleeding everywhere, to be exact. Clambering in, his sights set on the object, he accidently brushed against it with his boot.

Now, something that every person should realize…is that you shouldn't touch foreign substances with metal plated boots without first figuring out what said foreign substance is.

Unfortunately, Erik found that one out the hard way.

A wave of burning crashed down on him, and he was aware of a gigantic jolt surging through the air before his head reconnected with a rock, sending him plummeting into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Well, this fic is rather popular for me to update at school…Meh. Whatever. **

**By the way, all of the places are fictional, cause I'm too lazy to go look up anything for reference and then get the information wrong.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any way, shape, or form. **

o-o-o-o

_Chapter Two_

Optimus Prime's optics widened as a new spark flickered into the comm. link. Ignoring whatever Will had been saying to him was no longer registering in the Autobot's sensors.

_**.: Holy Slag, was that what Ah think it was? :. **_Jazz asked, his voice curious. _**.: Ah don't think Ah've felt that kind of spark since Cybertron. :. **_

_**.: Prime…It's…a Youngling's spark signature. :.**_

_**.: Where? :.**_

"Will, I must ask that you pardon me from this discussion. There is some urgent business that I must attend to." Optimus rumbled, tuning out the sudden onslaught of murmurs from the Autobots.

William Lennox looked up at the Autobot in surprise. "Sure, Optimus. What's going on?"

"There is a new Autobot spark that has appeared on our private communication link. It worries me." Optimus replied lowly.

"Where did the signature come from?" Lennox wondered.

"Somewhere from the country you call 'Russia'." Optimus replied. "I will assemble a group to go and seek out the signal. Will you join me?"

"Sure." Lennox shrugged, clambering onto the offered metal plated palm that was being offered. "What's a quick trip to Russia?"

o-o-o-o

Erik yelped, attempting to claw his way out of the mess of IV's and various other machinery that were hooked up to him.

"Sir, please stop! You'll reopen your wounds!" the panicked nurse cried, trying to get to him and pin him down.

Erik panted, pausing long enough for the wiry woman to tackle him to the bed. "Where am I?"

"You're in Gregoria General Hospital. You were brought in a couple of days ago with extensive injuries. Your son managed to tell us that you'd been hiking when you fell through a crevasse and got trapped."

"I don't have a son-" Erik protested, suddenly wary. What the hell was going on here?

"You probably won't remember. You have a serious concussion." The woman let him go, keeping a close eye on him should he decide to make a break for it again. "I'll bring him in to visit."

Erik was left wondering what the fuck was going on. He knew for a fact that he didn't have a kid. He'd been single practically his entire life.

Unless..

His eyes widened.

Could it be related to the robot that he discovered?

"Right in here, sweetie."

His head nearly got whiplash as he looked over at the doorway, where the nurse was leading a blond haired boy that couldn't be much older than five in.

He had to admit, the kid did look like him. Same shade of blond hair, same kind of facial structure…actually, the kid looked almost exactly like he did as a kid.

The boy pointed and tilted his head curiously at the nurse, who nodded back with a smile. "Yes, that's your father. He just looks different because he's all bandaged up."

Immediately, the boy's face stretched into a wide grin, and he leapt at his 'father'.

"I'll let you two have some time alone." The nurse nodded, closing the door behind her and leaving.

Erik blinked at the cherub-like child for several moments before his mind got back on track.

"What are you?" He asked warily. "Are you involved with that thing that I found in the cave?"

The boy chirped and nodded while clapping, a bright grin on his face. Then he pointed to himself.

"You're the robot?" Erik guessed, feeling a little creeped out that the robot he'd found turned into an adorable five year old boy.

Another nod and a chirp.

"Did you bring me here?"

Another nod.

"Are you an alien of some kind or something? How'd you turn into a kid?" Erik demanded.

An impish grin and a shrug.

"Are you here to help me?"

The kid turned serious. Nodding, he clambered up onto the bed, sitting neatly in between Erik's legs. Frowning, he made an apologetic sound and gestured to his legs.

"No, you didn't do this. I fell through the mountain and then found the robot- you, I guess."

The child didn't look satisfied with Erik's answer, and turned sky blue eyes to him, looking as though he was a beaten puppy.

"Don't. It wasn't your fault." Erik chided gently, ruffling the kid's hair awkwardly. "So , what's your name? Can you talk?"

The puzzled expression that came next was so unexpected that Erik burst into laughter. "Alright, so you don't have one yet."

The blond haired boy shook his head before tapping the side of his head and shrugging, spreading his hands in an 'I don't know' fashion.

"So, you do have a name?" Erik questioned, raising a brow. A nod was his answer, but the child was beginning to look frustrated.

"And you can't talk."

The child nodded sadly before chirping what Erik would have guessed to be a curse of some kind.

"Okay. We're just going to have to play the guessing game until we can figure this out." Erik assured, ruffling the kid's hair again. "Just hold on until then."

o-o-o-o

Lennox was a little surprised at the amount of Autobots that wanted to go to Russia and search for this new signal that was coming from that general direction.

The most eager were Optimus, Ironhide, and Sideswipe, though Jazz was up there as well.

"What's so important about this new signal you've picked up?" he asked, earning startled looks from all of the 'bots, who had been bickering relentlessly about who would be going, with gentle scolding from Optimus when Sideswipe and Jazz almost tore each other a new one.

Sighing, the Autobot leader scooped the soldier from his soldier and held him in his palm, where he could see what everyone was doing.

"The signal that we've picked up on is that of a Youngling." Optimus stated. "Younglings are the children of our race. We have thought that they had all been offlined during the war, but Ratchet has confirmed that the signal is that of a Youngling."

"So, they're really important." Lennox clarified.

"Yes." Optimus nodded. "But at the same time, they are extremely vulnerable to any threats that may want to hunt it. Younglings do not have the same skills that we older Autobot's do. They are also unable to communicate over a link or through language. They must be taught. I fear that if we do not find this Youngling, it will either be offlined or fall into the hands of the Decepticons."

"Let's get going, then!" Ironhide grumbled, crossing his arms. "We've done nothing but weary ourselves with this idle chatter when this Youngling could be falling into the 'Cons hands!"

"Ah'm with 'Hide on this one." Jazz agreed. "If Ratchet , 'Hide, Prime and Ah all go, we can be back before ya know it!"

Optimus frowned before nodding. "Very well. Will, you will be joining us, I presume?"

"I'm in." Lennox grinned.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Ironhide bellowed, machinery whirring and moving as he downsized to his alt-form.

"Let us be off." Optimus agreed, setting Lennox down so he could transform back into the custom painted Peterbilt.

Lennox climbed in, and the group roared off.

o-o-o-o

Erik muttered under his breath all of the things he wanted to do to the damned machinery he was hooked up to in Russian, glad that his younger counter-part couldn't understand a word of what he was saying, judging by the confused expression that kept on crossing his features.

"Don't worry about it. I'm just saying how much I want to be out of here." He told the kid, wondering what his name actually was. Was it that he couldn't write, either?

The younger stared at him for a moment like he was crazy before going back to making the odd little humming noise he'd been doing for the last half hour.

And then he _flickered_. As in, actually flickered out of existence for a couple of seconds.

A panicky expression crossed his features, and he stared at Erik in terror. Chirps erupted from the tiny frame, and he gestured to himself before pointing out the window at something in the parking lot.

Erik, a little shell shocked, followed his finger to see an older model of a Volkswagen Bug, painted a dark green. Then the child pointed back to himself, and then at the car again.

"You're the _car_?" he hissed finally as the kid flickered again.

The kid nodded before pointing again and flickering out like he'd never been there.

Erik stared out at the green Bug, wondering what he'd done to deserve a fate like this.


End file.
